02 Don’t recognize old friends
The faint fragrance of ink penetrated into his nose, Yun Zhi broke into a cold sweat and immediately became alert.
Looking up, the dim moonlight outside the window shrouded the man, only reflecting a vague outline, slender but slightly thin. At this moment, the man was also looking at him.
The two looked at each other, but in a tacit understanding, neither of them made a sound.
At this moment, a group of neat footsteps suddenly came from the window. It was the inspection team in the mansion who came here.
Without thinking, Yun Zhi pulled the man and squatted down by the window. It wasn't until it was completely quiet outside that she secretly breathed a sigh of relief. Then she looked at the person beside her and lowered her voice and said, "You are Who? Why did you appear in my second brother’s study late at night?”
The man coughed lightly and asked slowly, "Are you Lu Yunzhi?"
Yun Zhi raised his eyebrows slightly, grabbed his clothes tightly, and said in an extremely rude tone, "I'm asking you! Do you know what a serious crime it is to break into Duke An's mansion at night!"
The man said in a faint tone, "Oh? You don't know me?"
"How could I..." Yun Zhi covered his mouth only halfway through his words. It's over. Could this person be Lu Shenjun's friend? He seems to still know the original owner?
Thinking of this, Yun Zhi didn't dare to say anything more. He just loosened his clothes and smiled, "Hey, it's you. I didn't recognize him just now. I'm sorry."
The two of them stood up together. Yun Zhi took two awkward steps back, trying to explain why he appeared here in the middle of the night, "I came here to find some books."
The man hummed and explained aloud: "I'm waiting for Brother Shenjun here."
Yun Zhi immediately became suspicious again, "Don't you know that my second brother is on duty today?"
"I know." The man's tone was calm, and there was no trace of anything unusual. "He said he would be back at the Yin hour and asked me to wait for him here."
Yinshi? Yun Zhi had no idea about the time of this era. She only knew that according to the twelve zodiac signs, Yin hour was probably between three and five o'clock in the morning. But she didn't know the current time, so she had to ask the people around her: "What time is it now?" When is it?"
The man raised his head and glanced at the moon outside the window, "Five moments of ugliness."
At five o'clock in the ugly hour, it is around half past two, which means that in half an hour, Lu Shenjun may be back!
Yun Zhi was a little anxious. She finally sneaked in and met Lu Shenjun's friend. If this person mentioned it to Lu Shenjun later, Lu Shenjun would definitely become suspicious. Then even if she would not be regarded as a monster, she would definitely not be considered a monster. The opportunity came again for Haoran Zhai.
"Um... this brother, can you not tell my second brother that I have been here?" Yun Zhi didn't care whether people could see clearly or not, so he made a pitiful look and begged, "If my second brother knew If I stay up so late, I must lose my temper, and you know he loses his temper very violently!"
Hearing this, the man sneered, "You can keep it a secret if you want me to."
"More..." Before Yun Zhi could say the word "thank you", the man said again: "But, I never do business at a loss, what are you going to do to stop me? "
Turns out to be an old fox! Yun Zhi cursed secretly in his heart, and put on a smile on his face, "I didn't bring anything here, otherwise, why don't I owe you first? I will definitely prepare a big gift and send it to your house later!"
The man was silent for a moment, then sighed, "Okay, but you have to agree in advance that I don't like ordinary courtesy."
"I know, I know." Seeing that he relented and responded repeatedly, Yun Zhi didn't want to continue talking to him anymore, so he said, "Then you wait here, I will pick out a few books first."
The man hummed, "Go ahead."
Yun Zhi hurriedly got into the study, took out a fire note from his arms and blew it, thinking of quickly finding the book he wanted to read.
However, when the firelight reflected on the bookshelf, Yunzhi was dumbfounded - the characters of this era were completely different from the simplified characters. They were crooked and looked like... the small seal characters of the ancient Qin Dynasty.
How can I find a book? Even if you find it, how can you understand it?
Yunzhi stood in front of the bookshelf, not knowing how to continue.
"What's wrong?" The faint fragrance of ink floated closer, and the man followed him again.
In the swaying firelight, Yun Zhi finally saw the man's appearance clearly. At this moment, two words came to her mind: light.
A small osmanthus flower blooms softly in the moonlight, fresh and elegant.
"There are too many books and I can't find them." Yunzhi said calmly.
As she spoke, she had moved her gaze from the man's face to the bookshelf, trying to identify the words on the spines of the books.
The light and shadow intersect on her face, and it is difficult to hide the charm between her eyebrows. Unlike Lu Yunsheng's bookish look, the face of the original owner, which is almost exactly the same as Yun Zhi's, has a dignified and compassionate beauty, bright but not ostentatious, and will always be It gives people an inexplicable sense of intimacy at first glance.
The man's gaze fell on her face, and he was absent-minded for a moment, but he soon came back to his senses, but his tone seemed a little unnatural when he spoke, "What book are you looking for?"
Yun Zhi hesitated for a moment, thinking that since this person had promised not to tell Lu Shenjun about sneaking into Haoran Zhai tonight, he probably wouldn't tell her what book she wanted.
""Dayuan Criminal Code", "Zhongzhou Records", and "Zhongzhou Picture Chronicles".
These books were all found out in the afternoon by Yun Zhi from the housekeeper. Luozhou City, where Duke An Guo’s mansion is located, is the capital of the Dayuan Kingdom, which is located on a continent called Zhongzhou. It is said that besides Dayuan, there are several other countries in Zhongzhou. Yun Zhi did not ask too much. He only knew that he could understand all this from "Zhongzhou Records" and "Zhongzhou Picture Chronicles".
The man was obviously stunned, but he didn't ask anything. He just led Yun Zhi towards the bookshelf inside, "These books are not here. Come with me."
It was only then that Yun Zhi truly believed that he was Lu Shenjun's friend. He must have been so familiar with the placement of books here only if he came to Haoran Zhai often.
The man quickly took down the book and handed it to Yun Zhi before he suddenly sighed, "You owe me another gift."
Yun Zhi looked at his smiling eyes and felt angry, but he had to apologize and said with a smile: "Yes, yes, yes."
The man then gave her the book. Yun Zhi was about to run away when he heard him ask: "Actually, you don't remember who I am, do you?"
Yun Zhi stumbled and almost threw the book out of his arms. He only dared to smile and did not dare to speak.
The man wasn't annoyed at all, he just smiled, raised his hand and hit her on the head, "Xiao Yi."
"Ah?" Yun Zhi reacted for a moment before realizing that he seemed to have said a name, "Oh okay..."
Suddenly, he lowered his head and blew out the fire stick in her hand. Yun Zhi was about to have a seizure when she heard his clear voice speaking unhurriedly: "Brother Shenjun seems to have arrived outside the hospital."
Yun Zhi came back to his senses immediately, and without caring about anything else, he hurriedly got out of the window, climbed over the wall and slipped out before Lu Shenjun turned into the yard.
Because he was worried that he would be discovered if he took these books, after returning to his room, Yun Zhi didn't bother to rest and immediately lit the lamp and started reading.
She flipped through all three books, and found that two of them were full of dense text. She seemed to be struggling. Fortunately, there was one "Zhongzhou Illustrated Chronicle" with both pictures and text. Although many of the words were incomprehensible, they were still legible. I can barely understand the meaning based on the context and pictures.
An hour later, Yunzhi finally understood the basic situation of this world.
This place is called Zhongzhou Continent, and now the three kingdoms of Ling, Yan, and Yuan are separated, and there are dozens of tribes, all of which are subordinate to the three kingdoms. Among the three kingdoms, Ling is the most powerful, followed by Yuan and Yan.
However, Yun Zhi was quite interested in this country of Yan, because the map stated that Yan was a country where women were respected, and the empress of Yan was a legendary figure.
Seeing this, Yun Zhi flipped through the pages and found a chapter dedicated to the Yan Kingdom.
She only took one look and was stunned, and then a strong feeling of surprise almost roared out from the bottom of her heart.
Among the winding pictures and text on that page, a clear paragraph of simplified Chinese characters suddenly appeared——
"The people of Yan must unswervingly practice the core socialist values of 'prosperity, democracy, civilization, harmony, freedom, equality, justice, rule of law, patriotism, dedication, integrity, and friendliness'."
This is a rubbing of a manuscript, with a line of words written underneath: Yan Empress Sikong Jing’s handwriting.
But the handwriting of the empress made Yun Zhi couldn't help but tremble all over.
This handwriting was so familiar to her. It was her sister Yun Jing's handwriting!
Yunzhi's parents died young, and her sister Yun Jing was her only relative. The two sisters had been dependent on each other for twelve years and had a deep relationship. However, half a year ago, Yun Jing suddenly disappeared and her whereabouts were unknown. Yun Zhi originally worked in the police force, so naturally she spared no effort to search for clues. Just when she just found some clues, a white light flashed in front of her eyes. When she opened her eyes again, she She became Lu Yunzhi, the second young lady of Anguo Palace.
This is the most important reason why Yunzhi jumped into the lake twice and was anxious to go back.
And now, she actually found her sister's handwriting on a picture journal from an era that was not part of her own world's timeline, and the content clearly belonged to her own world!
So, could this Yan Kingdom empress Sikong Jing be her sister Yun Jing?
Yunzhi gritted his teeth tightly and tried his best to suppress his inner excitement.
She raised her trembling hand and continued to flip through the journal, trying to find something to immediately support her thoughts. However, the record of the empress in this journal only contained this page. In fact, the entire journal contained There are very few records about the Yan Kingdom, only three to five pages. Compared with the two countries of Lingyuan, it is really pitiful.
Yunzhi rummaged for a long time, until the cockcrow sounded outside the window, and she couldn't find anything valuable anymore, but she couldn't calm down in her heart. No matter what, she had to go to Haoran Zhai again!
